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It was a different race, but musings of another father were the subject of another stallion's thoughts not too far from the place Somnium had first stalked into the woods. Through the trees, down a slope and through the undergrowth, one of many woodland streams ran coursing with gentle deliberation until it slowed and widened into a pool amidst a boulder-strewn clearing. Here, at the side of the pool, Trevelyn stood silently, staring down into the dark waters. A familiar face looked back up at him, one that sported slight fangs, dark glossy curls, a short, curved horn, and a tan face: horn aside, it could have been his father staring up at him from the depths.

Trev had always had a strained (to put it politely) relationship with Jean-Claude, stemming back to his earliest memories of the bad ending to his parent's relationship. Along with his sisters, Trev had been thrown into the middle of an ugly battle; with his sister Memory, he had stayed with his mother, and had come to view his father as the epitome of all that was wrong with the world. It was a somewhat jaded view, shaped and molded by the opinions of those that admittedly disliked Jean-Claude, but was a view that had stayed with him for his entire life. His one meeting with the stallion since reaching adulthood had gone badly, and he had no desire to repeat it. The sheer hatred of his youth had mellowed to mere dislike, but there were still moments when he found himself musing on the incredible irony of him so closely resembling a father he would never know and always loathe.

He was turning away from the reflection when a glimmer in the distance caught his eye. Startled, he first frowned, then narrowed his eyes as he beheld what was unmistakably fire off through the trees, but far too close for comfort. Were it not for the fact that the ground was saturated with melting snow he would be downright concerned; instead, he was merely curious; who would be out in this part of the woods at this time of night? With the silence of one at home in the forest, he started off through the trees, sticking to the shadows.

Ok, that was weird. Trevelyn had been moving slowly and deliberately towards the flames when they had suddenly and inexplicably faded. Had it not been for their strange presence to begin with, he would had thought their fading only natural; after all, what sort of fire would be thriving in the damp out here? They would have to be determined fires to begin with to exist...or to have had help.

He had seen humans before, and had seen their usage of fire. As no Soquili would have been able to kindle a flame, he had a strong suspicion that it was one or more of the humans straying into the area that had lit the fires; there were few of that sort that would be comfortable out here at night in the dark. Even those that weren't superstitious could find the silence of the forest eerie, and those that were...well, those that were weren't often out here, to be honest.

However, seeing the flames go out made curiosity give way to wariness. If the flames went out, they had either been deliberately snuffed or had been left alone; either option suggested only one thing to Trev: that he had been noticed. Obviously he had not been exercising enough care in where he set his feet, damnit all. Immediately he went still, a motionless blur in the darkness himself as he too listened for the sound of whoever else was out there.

Two could play at the stealth game, and two were playing at it with a great deal of success. Since coming to a complete stop, Trev had stood motionless, statuesque nearly to the point of not breathing as he sought to identify the number and location of the probably humans. Other than his slowly shifting eyes and gently swiveling ears, he was immobile, and consequently at the tiniest of advantages over the kalona.

It was the sound he heard first; the same soft, almost imperceptible shuffle of damp, dead leaves that had first alerted Somnium to his presence. From the sound, Trev was able to gauge a rough direction, and the fact that whoever it was was either moving or shifting, and that there was at least one. Slowly, smoothly turning his head in the direction of the noise, he peered through the trees and was greeted once more with the sight of low glowing flames. Only one problem: they appeared to be moving!

Holy crap, that was both dramatic and unexpected. The low, barely visible flames had burst forth into bright, intense light, casting their surroundings into clear relief, specifically the tall, angry-looking kalona stallion to whom they were...attached? At first Trev was sure that his eyes were playing tricks on him, but narrowing his eyes and studying the lights carefully, he had to accept that they were in fact surrounding the kalona stallions hooves. Great, just what the rest of the world needed: in addition to the notoriously violent and prickly race having fangs, horns, speared tails, and wings spikes, they were now coming out with fire feet. Just what the rest of the forest needed.

The logical thing at this point seemed to vacate the area, and quickly. Though aware that there were those who bore the kalona genes that weren't homicidal, Trev had preferred to assume the worst from the beginning, thus helping to keep his skin intact for this many years of his life. All those who lived in the deeper, darker parts of the forest were well advised to be on their guard, for both the kalona and the far more sinister and deadly skinwalkers.

Yet the current situation posed a few unique complications. So far, he had managed to evade the kalona, but only after he'd gone immobile. The other was too close now for him to completely get away if he took off, and just because he'd never seen him before in this part of the woods didn't mean that the kalona was unfamiliar with it himself...

No, best to just meet him face to face and prepare himself for the consequences. That ought to teach him to give in to curiosity in the future!

Deliberately, Trev stepped out from behind the sheltering trees, giving the kalona a good looking over as he did so. He himself was much less illuminated, but there was far less to see of him. "Whoever I am is Trev." Short, sweet, and to the point; neither antagonistic nor fully revealing of his name, but non sullen or confrontational. The ball was in the kalona's court now...

So it was to be a standoff for now, then. Very well. Trev stood his ground, taking note now not only of the other's dramatic flames, horns, and wings, but also of the previously unseen hair tail that marked the dark stallion to be some sort of halfbreed. Thankfully it was a hair tail and he lacked a unicorn horn, so he wasn't of the dangerously mad unikalona breed; indeed, being able to rule that possibility out made Trevelyn feel slightly, slightly less concerned about the fellow. Halfbreed kalona were usually as much a target for the pure bloods as the so-called 'lesser' breeds, and sometimes even moreso: as bearers of tainted blood, they stood a greater danger of persecution than the lessers themselves.

But he wasn't going to relax his guard on that note. Half-breed or not, this was a stranger, an aggressive one at that, who bore kalona blood and had no reason to be trusted. Trev would have to continue to play it by ear, and with that he stayed as he was. However, slightly emboldened by his discovery, he hazarded a bit more speech. "Unusual decoration there, your flames. Is that a common trait in your region?"

It was an indisputable fact that Trev was no 'pure'; the offspring of a ghostly alicorn and a slightly mutated regular, he had inherited his mother's small, oddly curling uni horn...and everything else from his father. He had nevertheless never considered himself as much of anything in terms of race; socially, the Soquili world had always seemed to lump itself into 'kalona' and 'not kalona', with little distinction between the various non-kalona races. Had he known that Somnium was taking some form of solace in HIS mixed-race appearance, he likely would have been surprised and possibly relieved; but as things were, he remained carefully guarded.

"I see. That's where I got these," Trev commented himself, baring his teeth to show off his pronounced fangs. "Among other things. But understanding of genetics aside, I can't say I'm familiar with flaming appendages as a typical Soquili trait." It was said calmly and matter-of-factly, without any hint of skepticism or maliciousness, but the hint was obvious: that he wanted more information. And why not? If this was something he could expect to see in his neck of the woods (flaming feet), he really ought to be aware of it!

If Somnium took solace in believing that Trevelyn too shared kalona blood, then he was welcome to as much satisfaction as he could possibly get from that knowledge: Trev himself could offer no additional support on that score. Indeed, to the best of his knowledge he had no kalona blood of any sort; the father from whom he'd inherited the fangs was otherwise as regular a Soquili as could ever hoped to be seen in the Kawani lands: solid hooves, hair mane and tail, normal build, height, and weight, and a diet of grass. Trev himself had never felt any inclination to try his fangs on any sort of meat, and mostly regarded them as an annoyance.

Still, they had obviously earned some amount of respect from the other stallion, and that was nothing to regard with displeasure. It was certainly something unique, seeing an degree of kalona laugh!

So he smiled himself in return, albeit slightly more guarded. Laughter or not, the other was still a kalona, and a flaming one at that! "I see; well, every trait seen in Soquili must have gotten its start at some point. And I suppose we could both be regarded as such," he commented with a glance upwards at his horn. He was no pure anything, that was sure true! "But I have always preferred to think of myself in other ways than by any measuring of my blood." His tone was mild, but firm; if Somnium wanted any other reaction, he was going to have to look elsewhere than on a stallion as used to being blase as Trev!